HEAPING HELPINGS OF BLESSINGS: Cafe Central reopening May 24

Published 3:48 pm Thursday, May 19, 2022

After operating on a to-go basis since Covid began back in March 2020, Cafe Central’s soup kitchen is set for a grand reopening on May 24.

Ann Bowen, director of Cafe Central, said even during Covid, the soup kitchen never missed a week serving as they continued providing meals via to-go boxes, but organizers are now ready to officially reopen their dining room.

Cafe Central began more than a decade ago when Bowen retired from her job as an insurance agent and started helping out in the office at her church. It was then that she realized a great need within the community.

 “People were constantly coming in saying they needed something to eat,” she said.

So the church started keeping food on hand — things like soup and sandwiches — to give to hungry people who often stopped by. Bowen soon saw, though, that the need was great and that’s when she went to her pastor and told him that someone needed to start a soup kitchen at the church. 

His reply came as a bit of a surprise.

“He said, ‘Well, I think that you would be perfect for that.’”

Her reply came quickly, too.

“I said, ‘No, you let me know when you find somebody that wants to do it, and then I’ll help them.’”

A couple of months later, Bowen approached her pastor again and asked if he had found someone.

“And he said, ‘You are the person that needs to do the soup kitchen,’ and again I said, ‘No way, that’s just not what I want to do. I don’t even know how to do that.’”

Her pastor’s advice was simple. He told her all she needed to do was put up a sign advertising free food, cook something up and bring it to the church. Reluctantly, she decided to give it a try. She did just as he said with the help of some other ladies in the church, and that first week they hosted about 15 hungry guests. The next week, they hosted around 30 hungry people from within the community. 

It was a trend that would continue.

“It kept doubling almost to the Nth degree,” Bowen said. “It just doubled and doubled and doubled.”

That was back in 2009, and to this day, Cafe Central has barely ever missed a Tuesday of serving since. They eventually ran out of space at their original location at Church Central and have been housed at Freedom Church for the last seven years.

On a typical Tuesday, the kitchen serves about 250 people, but before Covid it was twice that number. Around 33,000 have been served to date.

There are no qualifications required for receiving a meal.

“You walk in the door,” Bowen said. “If you walk in the door, you’re supposed to be there.”

Now, Bowen hopes that the kitchen will be able to return to a new sort of normal. She said having to use to-go plates over the past couple of years has added extra expense since they can only be used once, and the price for plates has doubled with rising inflation. 

She said Cafe Central is also in need of donations for needed items like a new refrigerator and dishwasher. 

Volunteers are always needed as well, whether helping to prepare the meals, wash dishes or pitch in wherever needed. 

In addition to the Tuesday meals, Middle Georgia Food Bank also brings a food truck to the kitchen every other week, with plates of food that must be sorted, put in boxes and given out as people come through the line.

Through the years, Bowen said the most rewarding part of being involved in Cafe Central is simply doing something for people that absolutely need it. 

“We have people that are just so grateful that they cry when they tell you how thankful they are,” she said. “We have a lot of people that come that I’m sure could get by with no problem without coming to the soup kitchen, but then we’ve got those that absolutely rely on us.”

All are invited to attend Cafe Central’s grand reopening on May 24 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Bowen said they are planning enough food for 1,000 people, and barbecued ribs and pulled pork are on the day’s menu. 

“Even though ribs are expensive, we really want to show people that we want to feed them, we want them to come, we want them to reap the rewards of our blessings. We’ve been blessed, and the best thing for being blessed is to bless somebody else.”

Anyone interested in volunteering should call Doug Shelton at 303-638-2960.